Star in Any Language

In another era, he’d be an MVP candidate.

In another city, he’d be a superstar.

But Vladimir Guerrero is playing in a baseball wasteland, and he likes it. Not only is he content, the 23-year-old Expo right fielder is thriving as, get this, a Spanish-speaking Dominican playing America’s pastime in the French-Canadian city of Montreal.

“The experience has been good for me because this is still the major leagues and it’s a good job to go to work to every day,” Guerrero said in Spanish at Dodger Stadium, where Tuesday night the Expos defeated the Dodgers, 3-0. “I’ve felt really welcomed in Montreal. The people salute me and welcome me when I’m just walking down the street.”

Two years ago, people were giving him directions, not handshakes.

Remember, this is a guy whose one-time roommate, Pedro Martinez, made sure Guerrero had their Montreal address written on a piece of paper in his pocket should he ever get lost.

With the five-year contract extension Guerrero signed Sept. 1, 1998 to remain with the Expos through the 2003 season, he’ll have more than enough time to learn the side streets and back roads of Montreal, if the franchise doesn’t move.

And that’s fine with Expo Manager Felipe Alou.

“He’s a phenom, though he’s still swinging at a lot of bad pitches. But when he gets a pitch to hit, he kills it,” said Alou, who also re-upped with the Expos last winter, signing a three-year deal after resisting the Dodgers’ overtures. “The prediction was made when Vladi was 17 years old that he was going to be something special, that he was going to be a great player. He’s right on target.”

It’s only Guerrero’s second full season in the majors, but already the 6-foot-3, 205-pound man-child with braces in his mouth and a canon for an arm has established himself as an all-around player in the mold of Roberto Clemente.

His stats thus far--a .305 batting average, 36 homers, 114 runs batted in--are almost identical to the numbers he put up last year--a franchise-record 38 homers while batting .324 with 109 RBIs. This season, his 15 assists rank third in the National League, although his 17 errors top major league outfielders.

Fifteen or 20 years ago, his offensive figures would have been Triple Crown-worthy. But in today’s age of rabbit balls and andro, Guerrero is merely the next superstar-in-waiting.

And though holding Montreal franchise records may be as dubious an honor as being a former member of Menudo not named Ricky Martin, Guerrero is the first Expo to have 30 or more homers in consecutive seasons. He’s also the first Expo with at least 100 RBIs two years in a row. Only power-hitting catcher Gary Carter had more than one 100-RBI season while in Montreal.

Other records he set in 1998: most extra base hits, 82, and most total bases, 367.

This year, he has realistic shots at breaking his own homer mark as well as surpassing Tim Wallach’s RBI record of 123, set in 1987.

Guerrero doesn’t like to talk about such individual pursuits, especially because he started out a bit slow this year. But he caught fire after serving as the Expos’ all-star representative in Boston this summer.

His 31-game hitting streak from July 27-August 26 was the majors’ longest of the decade. And after batting .355 with 12 homers, 29 RBIs and a .742 slugging percentage in August, he was named the NL player of the month.

How did he celebrate? By taking a well-deserved day off Aug. 31. It was the first game he had missed since April 19, 1998, ending his consecutive games streak at 276, which was then the third-longest current streak in the majors.

Guerrero’s older brother Wilton, who joined the Expos when the Dodgers traded him July 31, 1998, said that the small-market intimacy of Montreal has fostered his brother’s maturation.

“Plus, he now knows a little more English,” Wilton Guerrero said. “He’s getting more comfortable. And when you have the family and friends [on the same team] speaking Spanish and English, he learns more.”

Alou, the second Dominican to play in the major leagues, has created a haven of sorts for Latino ballplayers in the Montreal clubhouse. The Guerreros are two of 12 foreign-born Latins on the Expo roster.

“It helps and you do feel more comfortable, but you’ve got to play hard no matter who’s the manager, who’s on the team. You’ve got to do your job,” said Wilton, who has acted as a liaison between not only his brother and management types, but also for the team’s other players that speak only Spanish. “After the job, having the language makes it better for the manager, better for everyone.”

Vladimir agreed.

“I think so, especially with the manager speaking Spanish and instructing us in Spanish,” he said. “The added attention helps us to advance and progress while concentrating on the game.”

Yet while Montreal has served as the perfect, stress-free environment for the younger Guerrero--whose nickname Miqueas is tongue-in-cheek Dominican-Spanish slang for “little one”--his older brother is convinced that Vladimir could have excelled in a big-market atmosphere as well.

“It wouldn’t matter because he’s got the talent,” Wilton said. “That helps more because that makes him more comfortable. But he’s got the talent to do that.”

Vladimir was playing coy.

“I like playing in the big cities very much,” he said. “But I like being in a city where I can still just walk down the street and shake hands with the people. In a bigger city, I wouldn’t be able to do that. I’m happy here right now.”

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Vladimir Guerrero Profile

* BACKGROUND: Born Feb. 9, 1976 . . . Bats right, throws right . . . Signed as non-drafted free agent by Montreal Expos on March 1, 1993 . . . Eastern League most valuable player and Sporting News minor league player of the year in 1996 (.360, 19 home runs, 78 RBIs) . . . Called up to majors for nine games in 1996 (.185, 1 home run, 1 RBI):

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YEAR AB R SB 2B 3B HR RBI AVG. 1997 325 44 3 22 2 11 40 .302 1998 623 108 11 37 7 38 109 .324 1999 547 88 12 36 5 36 114 .305

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EXPOS: 3

DODGERS: 0

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ROYALS: 6 5

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